scrappy JDevL

DevL Music: I Only Take A Carpenter Away

Blips from the week of 7/5/09
You will beg for their lives and their souls
Muse – Take A Bow

Don’t! Make! It! Look! So! Pretty Burning!
The Used – Take It Away

If it gets you down well then I want it
Queens Of The Stone Age - If Only

‘Cause there’s a sad and lonely comfort // In the hollow of your eyes
Hurt – House Carpenter

I’m about to lay destruction on you
Eagles Of Death Metal – I Only Want You

:::…

Last.fm Top Artists

1 The National 36
1 Iced Earth 36
3 Queens of the Stone Age 31
4 Muse 24
5 Ryan Star 21
6 Weezer 19
7 Killswitch Engage 16

…:::

Reflection
It was a tale of two halves of my week this week, with The National keeping me calm at first, and Iced Earth giving me some classic metal when I needed it the most.

The National had been showing up on multiple Similar Artists stations the passed few weeks, and I finally decided to purchase their Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers album. Slipping Husband has such a resonating and unexpected explosion towards the end of the song, that it overpowered the experience of the rest of the album for me. Everything else seemed mellow, but gritty and real. It struck me as a more serious or deeper Something Corporate album. There’s something raw and damaged about the lyrics even if the sound that surrounds it is soothing.

I grabbed the new Killswitch Engage album when I needed a bit more aggression. The new self-titled album didn’t disappoint and made a much stronger first impression than their previous album. The Return was my therapeutic release multiple times this week, even if it is one of the slower tracks on the album. Jesse Leach is still one of the most amazing singers and his range is on full display on this song.

But Killswitch wasn’t what I really had in mind this week. I’ve been struggling with trying to scratch the right hard rock itch lately, as I’m tired of my primary selection. I was looking through Killswitch’s album covers and noticing a lot of similarities, which for some reason led me to thinking about all of Iced Earth’s album. I previewed a couple of songs since it had been over 5 years since I last listened to them, and I had to have more. The problem was, I couldn’t remember the name of the one album that I was really into in college and that’s what I really wanted to listen to. While looking through their album covers and titles, nothing was standing out, they were all so over the top that they were indistinguishable from one another. I ended up remembering 3 select songs from 3 different albums - Horror Show, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and The Dark Saga - which became a great mix for my afternoons later in the week. I mainly listen to them for the drums and thrasing speed metal guitars. By the very end of the week I  remembered why I stopped listening to them, as their lyrics are so fantastical that they are hard to take seriously. It becomes grating and I’d prefer it to be all instrumental.

I was happy to rediscover Muse and their Absolution album again this week. I tend to go back to that album a few times a year and it never disappoints. Muse always stands out to me still as the loudest concert that I have been, too. Strangely, they also have a song on their Origin of Symmetry album, Microcuts, that reminds me of the soundtrack to the Ratchet and Clank video game series. I’d been talking about the game recently which made me dive back into their albums.

Lots of new music that I’m looking forward to checking out this week.

• On Tuesday, Jack White’s new supergroup, The Dead Weather, has their album drop. I’ve listened to a few sampler songs already and couldn’t be more excited for the full album.
• I grabbed a few new-to-me albums by Karnivool, VAST, and Lacuna Coil that I’ve been waiting on. We’ll see how many spins they get this week.